Tag Archives: Animal cruelty

When I was younger, there was this run-down pet store kind of close to the market where my parents would go grocery shopping. Every time we went to the grocery store, I would beg and plead to stop by to play with the puppies and check out the guinea pigs and hamsters. My parents obliged and off I ran to the pet store called All About Animals. I’ll never forget that place. The people who worked in the store were very easygoing and often didn’t care if a clumsy child picked up one of their small, fragile puppies. That pet store was a huge part of my childhood. When I found out where the store got their puppies, I felt betrayed and sick that I even set foot in the store.

Little did I know these puppies came from one of the many large scale commercial operations that breed dogs for profit. These terrible operations are called puppy mills. After learning about this, I stopped going to the pet store and soon, the place was shut down (not because of the puppy mills but most likely because the owners couldn’t properly care for any of the animals). Not too long ago, I noticed that Debby’s Petland, a small pet shop chain located in some of the local malls, was also shut down. This is another small victory in the step for creating a more humane world for animals.

DON’T BUY PUPPIES FROM THE PET STORE!

I know it’s hard to walk by a pet store and not want to buy one of those adorable little pups. However, most of these cute creatures came from a puppy mill. Puppy mills are large-scale commercial operations that breed dogs for profit. They thrive on people who fall in love with the puppy in window. According to Best Friends Society, about three to four million puppies are raised in puppy mills each year.

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT PUPPY MILLS?

The adult breeding dogs are often the most mistreated of them all. They usually spend 24 hours, 7 days a week in a small cage where they are isolated from humans.

A single female could give birth to 60 pups. When she becomes too old to birth anymore, she’s simply killed.

These dogs often live in the filthiest of conditions; cages are filled with urine and feces, the dogs are often covered in ticks, and many have untreated injuries or malformations.

Puppy mills try to maximize their profits by not spending a sufficient amount of money on buying their dogs necessities such as food, housing, and veterinary care.

Many of the puppies bred in a puppy mill will have some sort of illness or a genetic or emotional problem. Others could have medical issues that will end up costing you thousands of dollars to fix.

Although running a commercial breeding facility of this size isn’t legal in any of the fifty states, it is poorly regulated by the USDA (as is everything else… I find that the USDA pretty much fails at everything having to do with animals). According to the ASPCA, auditors visited 81 facilities and reviewed records documenting 28,443 violations over a two-year period. This would be a good thing if the USDA shut all of these facilities down. But they didn’t. Despite all of these violations, these facilities were allowed to continue breeding. This happened back in May, 2010 but the USDA still seems to be oblivious to the abuses these dogs have to endure.

National Geographic talks about why Puppy Mills are not humane.

WHERE ELSE CAN I BUY ADOPT A PUPPY IF NOT AT A PET STORE?

1. YOUR LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTER

In my personal opinion, I think that more families should ADOPT their new best friend. Animal Shelters are full of great dogs just waiting to become the perfect addition to a family. Sadly, there are some dogs that will end up waiting forever. Some dogs never get to experience what it’s like to be loved unconditionally. Which is why I prefer people adopting over them buying purebreds from local breeders.

2. LOCAL BREEDERS

I am somewhat biased when it comes to buying from breeders. I think that mixed breeds are the way to go but I know that they are not for everyone. I don’t like that purebred puppies are (most of the time) a result of an incestuous breeding process, in which two related dogs have puppies together. I know that the dogs don’t know any different; it’s not the nature of it that bothers me. However, breeding two related dogs increases the chances of genetic mutation, physical deformities(example: German Shepherds are known for having hip problems later on in life) and disease. Purebred dogs tend to have shorter lifespans than mixed breeds because of these reasons.

3. RESCUE GROUPS

I understand why some people spend all the money to buy purebred dogs. Some families want a great family dog that is known for being loyal and calm so they may decide to go with a Labrador Retriever, which is known for being a great family dog. Or you may be a farmer who needs a great guard dog for your sheep, so you go with the Border Collie. Some situations require or incline you to buy a purebred dog simply for the characteristics that they were bred for. For those of you who are inclined to buy a purebred, I highly recommend searching for a rescue group in the area. There is a rescue group for every breed of dog, some more common than others. These may cost just as much as buying them from a local breeder, but these dogs are in greater need of a home.

The honest truth of the matter is that WE are the only ones who can really stop puppy mills. Make sure to let everyone know where these pet stores get their puppies. Tell your friends and family not to buy their new best friend from the store down the street. Once these pet stores run out of consumers to buy their products, they will be forced to shut down. This will weaken the puppy mill(s) that once supplied them and will hopefully run them out of business for good.

“ In the past ten years, over 2 million seals have been killed for their fur. This does not include the tens of thousands of seals who have been wounded by sealer’s clubs or rifles and escaped under the ice, only to succumb to their wounds and die.”

-The Humane Society of the United States

Every year, along the icy Canadian coastlines of Newfoundland and Labrador, thousands of baby seals cry out in pain as their skulls are struck by clubs or hakapiks (long sticks with a hooked blade at one end). This gruesome murder occurs a few weeks after mama seals gave birth to their beautiful babies. Every spring, 2,000 to 6,000 Canadian fishermen kill tens of thousands of baby seals for their fur and sometimes for their oil.

Below is a line graph I made using information I got from HarpSeals.org. The quota for 1996 drastically increased, as did the number of Harp seals killed. Since then, the quota has slowly continued to go up. This year, the Canadian government set the highest quota to date: 468,200 harp, grey, and hooded seals are allowed to die at the hands of these cruel Canadian sealers. So far, 37,609 seal pups have been killed this year.

* The # of seals killed only talks about Harp seals. This does not include the other types of seals (i.e Hood or Grey seals), although those seals were murdered too, although the numbers were other seals killed were not as large in amount. Also, this graph does not include seals that were ‘struck and lost’.

Reasons why the Seal Hunt should end:

1.) Do we really need seal fur? I know it makes a fashion statement but is that really worth the lives of hundreds of thousands of baby seals each year? I think not!

2.) Canadians hunt and kill baby seals. According to HSI, the Canadian government statistics say that 97 percent of the seals killed in the past five years have been less than three months of age, with a majority having been one month old or less! This doesn’t seem fair to me, especially considering these young creatures could have lived for 35 long happy years. But sadly, most of these baby seals have not even eaten their first meal or taken their first swim when the Canadian sealers come around to take their life away. Not only is this tragic, but it also makes surviving this terrible ordeal that much more difficult; their inability to swim means they have no escape route.

3.) For most people participating in the commercial seal hunt, seal clubbing is a second job for them; this means they have another full-time job. An economic analysis of the hunt done by a professor from the University Of Guelph revealed the hunt provides 100 – 150 full time jobs a year, while thousands of others hunt seals as a second means of income. Those who don’t have other jobs can probably find more work living in the city. Why must they live in in the rural, small towns, with only a few job opportunities to offer besides cruelly slaughtering baby seals? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

4.) An analysis conducted by a panel of veterinarians showed that around 40% of the seals were actually skinned alive (Harp Seals). Most likely, this occurs because hunters are careless and do not check the seal thoroughly enough to make sure the seal is dead before skinning it. Although sealers say the slaughter of these babies is performed in a humane manner, the video below shows their statement is inaccurate.

WARNING!: Footage is graphic.

5.) The number of Harp seals has drastically declined, not only because of the slaughter, but also because global warming has melted the ice floes. Harp seals are ice dependent animals and need that ice to give birth to their pups. The ice also needs to remain intact until the pups are strong enough to survive in the water. The climate change resulted in a decline of sea ice off the eastern coast of Canada. So these poor seals not only have to worry about humans slaughtering their brothers and sisters, but now they have to fight global warming shrinking their birthing grounds.

6.) Most of the time, the seal meat is left on the ice to rot away. This is because most countries find seal meat undesirable and for that reason, the price for their meat is very low and typically not worth the effort. Even Newfoundlanders find the meat too fatty and distasteful. Therefore, only small amounts of the seal’s meat is processed and used in any manner.

7.) If you are a Canadian, you should care about this cause a great deal. The money that keeps this program running comes from out of your pockets! The government uses tax payers’ money to fund things such as boats, weapons and many other things used in the seal hunt. The money also goes to promote and advertise the seal hunt. If you don’t want your hard earned money to go to the governments’ effort help kill baby seals, it’s time that you do something about it!

This subject makes me disappointed with how the Canadian Government is being run. I mean, all animal abuse makes me sad but learning about the slaughter of these beautiful creatures affected me the most. It seems I’m not the only one who is deeply effected by the whole process. Most people around the world don’t approve of Canada’s decision to keep the hunt going. It just bothers me that these cute babies have to die for something we don’t even fucking need! Nobody NEEDS a coat or hat made out of seal fur.

Watch a video or look at a photo of a baby seal; then think that in weeks time, their life will come to a tragic and painful end… for what? To be made into a fashion accessory for us humans to wear. Does that seem fair to you? I’m suddenly beginning to realize why PETA throws blood at someone wearing a fur coat. That fur coat looks better on a baby seal than it EVER will on ANY human being.

How could you kill such an adorable and innocent creature? Canada, this needs to stop!

A Positive Looking Future for Seals?

I obviously don’t live in Canada and I don’t have the best updates about the hunt. In fact, I got all of my information from only about three different websites (all of them are reliable sites with great information!). On May 13 2011, HarpSeals.org stated that the sealers did not feel like the hunt was worth participating in because sealers no longer made a huge profit from the hunt. This is because there are not many buyers for seal pelts due to the outstanding efforts of dozens of different organizations that have been campaigning for years to stop the hunt. The number of seals killed also went down because the European Parliament agreed to ban seal imports from Canada; this was a HUGE success for protestors because the EU was one of the biggest buyers of seal products.

Another reason why the season isn’t going great for the sealers is because of the deteriorating condition of the ice floes. Usually, hunters can walk out onto the ice to club the baby seals. This year however, the ice is too dangerous for sealers to walk on. Sadly, the shrinking ice floes are also a problem for pregnant seal mothers-to-be. These female seals need a solid place to give birth to their pups, since the babies cannot swim until they are at least 2 months old.

Hopefully, the condition of ice floes improve for these animals by the time seal slaughtering has been eliminated from the world. It is my hope that we can get rid of this cruel and inhumane slaughter of these beautiful creatures as soon as humanly possible.

What you can do to help:

Boycott Canadian Seafood

Boycott Canadian Tourism

Send emails and/or letters to Politicians and Businesses urging them to help put an end to the seal hunt. Visit HarpSeals.org to get a full list of politicians and businesses that you should contact; it could make all the difference. The more people/businesses you email, the better chances we have to end the slaughter of these innocent creatures once and for all.

Inform others about what happens to these seals.

Don’t buy anything with real fur. The demand for fur is contributing to this catastrophic massacre in Canada. Anyone wearing the fur of minks, rabbits, foxes, or any other kind of animal is responsible for creating this demand. I really don’t understand why people want to cuddle up in a dead animal… humans are so weird. Faux fur looks and feels just as real plus it is usually much cheaper.

Visit these websites for more

information:

HarpSeals.org–A charitable organization that seeks a permanent end to the massacres of harp seals in Canada. They promote the boycott of Canadian seafood to pressure sealers to call an end to the killing. I got most of my information from their website and I did not cover nearly as much information as I had hoped so to view the things I missed, click here.

PETA: Canada’s Shame– I know what you’re thinking, and I agree with you: PETA is a crazy organization. Personally, I absolutely love them for their crazy protests and over-the-top posters and signs; they really are making a huge contribution to animal rights when they do these sort of things. Even when people talk badly about them, the organization is still getting more recognition because people bother to speak out about them, whether it’s a bad opinion or a good one!

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) – The IFAW was created in 1969 to confront the cruel slaughter of harp and hooded seals. Today, the IFAW is the world’s leading international animal welfare organization, and is also one of the largest animal welfare organizations in Canada! They also help improve the welfare of wild and domestic animals throughout the world. This is a great organization & I highly recommend visiting their site as well!

The Humane Society: International – This organization is one of the only animal protection organization that is internationally helping to protect all animals. This includes animals in laboratories, farm animals, wildlife (seals), and even companion animals. A large branch of this organization is the HSUS (Humane Society of the United States). Both try to inform the world about the seal slaughter in Canada. In fact, this is where I first learned about the whole thing. If it were not for the HSI or the HSUS, this post would not be here today.

other by their facial features. They have 24 distinct cries that communicate a wealth of information to one other, including separate alarm calls depending on whether a predator is traveling by land or sea. They are good at solving problems. Perhaps most persuasive is the chicken’s intriguing ability to understand that an object, when taken away and hidden, nevertheless continues to exist. This is beyond the capacity of small children.”

–Dr. Chris Evans,

Professor of Psychology at Macquarie University, Australia

Do you remember when we had farmers with large amounts of land for animals to roam? The chickens would roam free, lay eggs year round, and in the spring, baby chicks would follow their mama hens around everywhere. Before World War II in America, about 70% of the population worked in agriculture and there were several family farms around. After that there was a shift; major corporations took over small family farms and the treatment of farm animals slowly diminished. This began what is now known as factory farming. In the United States during 2002, 87 billion eggs were produced by around 336 million laying hens.(1) These layer hens don’t get to make a nest, sit on their eggs or even get a chance to see their babies- these chicks will never meet their moms.

Let’s start from the beginning. You hatch from an egg and notice that there are many other baby chicks hatching around you. A big hand comes and roughly picks you up and throws you in a bin with many other fuzz balls that look just like you. The contents of this bin are then tossed onto a conveyer belt. This conveyer belt has two possible destinations. If you are a male, you will not be living for much longer (even though you just hatched from your shell). Since males cannot lay eggs and are unable to grow fast enough to be profitable for meat, they are useless to the industry. So if you are a male chick, you will either be ground up, gassed in chambers, or thrown out in a huge dumpster; left to either starve or freeze to death. The photo below (taken by Farm Sanctuary) shows male chicks in a dumpster, left to die a slow and painful death.

If you are a female chick, then you will continue along the conveyer belt. Their beaks are trimmed off with a hot blade, all without anesthesia or pain killers. This has been shown to cause these hens chronic and acute pain for the rest of their short lives. Chickens use their beaks for touching and picking things up; their beaks are like our hands. The egg industry claims that beak trimming is needed both to decrease aggressive tendencies among birds and to reduce feed costs.(4) Many countries have banned beak trimming and have had no problems without it. Chickens with their beaks trimmed often starve to death because they are in chronic pain.

The females, in my opinion, have it much worse than the male chicks do. Ninety-eight percent of the female layer hens are confined in battery cages.(2) Battery cages are small wire cages that normally hold 3-10 hens. Each hen has less space than a sheet of letter-sized paper (67 square inches per bird). A study by Drs. M.S. Dawkins and S. Hardie (1989) found that hens need an average of 72 square inches just to stand erect, 178 inches to preen, 197 inches to turn around, and 291 inches to flap their wings.(3) So 67 x 67 inches isn’t nearly enough room for these poor animals.

Female hens spend up to two years in these small cages. Their bodies often rub up against the side of the cage, causing them to lose their feathers. In many of the pictures taken of battery cages, you can see that many of these chickens are all bones. Chickens in these cages lack any sort of exercise and often have brittle bones and no muscle. It’s not uncommon to see their claws grow around the wire, because they are not meant to stand on wire for years at a time. Sometimes, hens die younger than others because their health deteriorates. These dead hens are often left to rot inside cages with hens who are still alive. When the alive hens slow down laying eggs (typically around 1-2 years old), the industry brings in newly laid chicks to take over and gets rid of these older hens. Workers violently rip these “useless” hens out of their cages (often breaking their brittle bones) and cram them all in a big truck to take to slaughter. Sometimes, workers will just place these chickens in a dumpster to starve or get crushed to death. All I know is that in a factory farm, none of these animals will have a humane end.

Now, you know the average life of a battery caged chicken. From the day they hatch to the day they are slaughtered, they live miserable lives. These factories don’t care about the welfare of these poor animals. As long as the can get as many birds and as many eggs as the possibly can, the companies are happy.

The Truth About“Cage-Free”:

Cage-free doesn’t mean the hens are allowed to roam around on Old McDonald’s farm! Most people seem to believe this. I work at a grocery store as a cashier. I would say about 1 in every 30 customers buy eggs labeled as “Cage-Free”. There have been many a time where I almost ask these customers why they go with “Cage-free”, just to see if they believe that these eggs came from happy chickens. I’m sure that’s what most people think. “Cage-free” SOUNDS pleasant- it’s meant to sound that way. But in all reality, “Cage-free” hens are treated just about the same as any battery-cage hen.

Both “Cage-free” and battery-cage systems typically buy their hens from hatcheries that kill the male chicks upon hatching—more than 200 million each year in the United States alone.

Both cage and cage-free hens have part of their beaks burned off, a painful mutilation that is done all without painkillers.

Both cage and cage-free hens are typically slaughtered at less than two years old, far less than half their normal lifespan. They are often transported long distances to slaughter plants with no food or water.

Whether you buy eggs from “Cage-free” hens or ones living in battery cages, you have a risk of getting salmonella. Do you remember the salmonella outbreak that occurred last August? You can thank the egg industry for that one. Although many don’t know how these hens can cause salmonella, there is a theory that it’s caused by their stress. It could also be caused from all of the ammonia and dust in the air, which the hens are constantly breathing in. Either way, it is almost certain that if one hen carries a disease, the chance that the other hens will catch that disease is very good. A way we could possibly prevent the spread of disease is to make the cages larger or just let them be chickens and live outside. But that would mean these egg companies would have to pay more of their money and they don’t want to spend that money.

These hens typically never see daylight. The amount of eggs they are forced to lay is a staggering amount and it puts a lot of stress on their already fragile bodies. Many go insane because of boredom and not being act like a normal chicken would. Please, stop purchasing your eggs from stores. If we got everyone to stop purchasing these eggs, we could make a difference in the world.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

DON’T EAT EGGS. I don’t suggest this unless you live in the city. If you live in a rural area, chances are there will be several people who own chickens and would be happy to sell them to you. This is what I do. My neighbor owns a small chicken coop and sells my family eggs for $3.50. Sure, it’s more expensive than eggs from the grocery store but I know that the hens (and roosters!) are well cared for and happy.

DON’T BUY EGGS FROM THE GROCERY STORE. Unless you’ve seen where your eggs originated from, you won’t know whether or not cruelty was involved in the making of your eggs. So to be safe, refuse to buy your eggs from a store. This makes a HUGE statement and will cause a huge change in the egg industry if a lot of people participate.

SEND THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. Chances are they also had no clue the cruelty these chickens had to endure to get the eggs in your fridge. PLEASE recommend my blog to others. My goal is to stop all sorts of animal cruelty. I’m not getting paid to write this blog. I write it because I want to make a difference in this world.

[WARNING!] The videos below will show you just how terrible factory farming is for the animals.They’re a bit more graphic but that’s the point; I want to show you how horrible these animals are treated. BOTH VIDEOS CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES! VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

[WARNING! VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES] Mercy For Animals is a great organization. Check out their website here for more videos. This was a n investigation taken undercover (because no recording is allowed in these factories (for obvious reasons). Battery cages should be outlawed by now. They cause disease in chickens to spread faster and also make these chickens loose their minds of boredom.

[WARNING! VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES] This one will really shock you. This is what happens the 50% of the chicks born-the male chicks. They are killed because they are not useful to the industry. This might be difficult to watch but try the best you can! These cute babies should NOT BE KILLED AFTER BIRTH! It sickens me to know it still occurs throughout the world, not only the U.S.